What pros wish everyone knew before using a house to kill debt Here’s the uncomfortable truth up front: when you use your house to kill debt, you didn’t make it disappear, you moved it, usually onto a 15-30 year clock. I’ve watched too many people feel smart swapping a 22% card into a vanilla mortgage… and then forget to re-amortize or prepay. Thirty years later, that “win” wasn’t cheap. It’s fixable, but only if you go in with a clear rule and a calculator, not just a lower-payment screenshot. Rule #1: Only refinance or tap equity if your total interest…

No, the Fed doesn’t set your mortgage rate No, the Fed doesn’t set your mortgage rate. I know it feels that way, Fed headlines hit your phone, rates move, and everyone at the barbecue repeats the same line: “I’m waiting for the Fed to cut before I refinance.” I get why this is confusing. The piece that actually anchors 30-year mortgage pricing isn’t the Fed funds rate; it’s the 10‑year Treasury yield and the extra spread investors demand on mortgage‑backed securities (MBS). And here’s the kicker for Q4 2025: the bond market is already pricing where it thinks the Fed…

Timing your refinance matters way more than people admit Timing your refinance matters way more than people admit. A Fed rate cut makes headlines, sure, but it doesn’t automatically make your refinance pencil out. We’re in Q4 2025, lenders are juggling holiday staffing, hedging costs, and year-end balance-sheet goals. That means pricing quirks. And your personal math, your rate, remaining term, and how long you’ll actually keep the loan, will decide this, not the push alert about the Fed. Quick truth: refinancing works when the total savings beat the total costs inside a timeframe you actually live through. I’ve sat…